Bill O’Brien will be the Texans next head coach

The Penn State coach and the Texans reached a five-year contract agreement Tuesday night and the deal will be officially announced Thursday, two people with knowledge of the situation said.

The 44-year-old Penn State coach, who has been a front-runner for the position since his interview last week, follows Gary Kubiak (2006-13) and Dom Capers (2002-05) as coaches who have been hired by owner Bob McNair since the franchise’s inception.

O’Brien led Penn State – stripped of scholarships and bowl games because of the Jerry Sandusky scandal – to a 15-9 overall record in two season. He previously was in the New England Patriots organizations for five years, including as an offensive coordinator for a team that reached the Super Bowl.

O’Brien takes over a 2-14 Texans team that had the worst record in the NFL and earned the No. 1 overall pick in May’s NFL draft.

Texans owner Bob McNair believes the Texans can make a quick turnaround – the same way Indianapolis and Kansas City did the last two years.

The Colts and Chiefs finished with the league’s worst records. They hired new coaches, acquired new quarterbacks and made the playoffs the next season.

The Texans are the first team this season to hire a new head coach.

McNair said when he fired Kubiak after 13 games that he wanted to get a head start on finding a replacement.

McNair said he wanted his candidates to have experience as head coaches. He also wanted them to have NFL backgrounds.

O’Brien fit the criteria.

McNair, vice chairman Cal McNair and general manager Rick Smith participated in the interviews that were set up by Jed Hughes of Korn/Ferry International. The Texans have used Hughes’ search firm the last two times they’ve hired coaches.

McNair didn’t want to spend time interviewing too many candidates because he didn’t want to risk losing O’Brien, who interviewed at Cleveland and Philadelphia last year before deciding to return to Penn State.

McNair also interviewed Lovie Smith, the former Chicago Bears coach and interim coach Wade Phillips, the team’s defensive coordinator the last three seasons.

McNair had planned to interview San Diego offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt, but when the Chargers made the playoffs as the last wild card team in the AFC, the owner didn’t want to wait.

Cleveland, Washington, Detroit, Tampa Bay and Minnesota have coaching vacancies, and O’Brien would have been heavily pursued if McNair hadn’t moved quickly once they interviewed last week.

O’Brien is a Bill Belichick protégé who spent five seasons (2007-2011) with the Patriots.

McNair hopes that O’Brien succeeds where other former New England assistants – Romeo Crennel, Josh McDaniels, Eric Mangini and Charlie Weis – failed as head coaches.

O’Brien accepted the Penn State job in January of 2012.

After being hired, O’Brien returned to the Patriots as their offensive coordinator in the playoffs. His last season ended with a 21-17 loss to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI.

Because of the Super Bowl, O’Brien got a late start on recruiting at Penn State but recovered well enough to finish 8-4 in his first season – a colossal achievement considering the sanctions. He earned immediate respect as a head coach.

O’Brien was recognized as the Big Ten Coach of the Year after that first season and was named as the Bear Bryant Award winner for national coach of the year.

In O’Brien’s second and last season with the Nittany Lions, they finished 7-5.

O’Brien grew up in Massachusetts and played at Brown University.

O’Brien began his coaching career as the tight ends coach at Brown in 1993 and moved to linebackers in 1994. From 1995-2002, he worked at Georgia Tech as a graduate assistant, running backs coach and offensive coordinator.

O’Brien coached running backs at Maryland from 2003-04 and was the offensive coordinator at Duke from 2005-2006, before he got his first NFL job under Belichick.

O’Brien coached wide receivers and quarterbacks before becoming the offensive coordinator with the Patriots in 2011.